UC kills plan to move law school Downtown

The University of Cincinnati's architectural designs of the proposed law school at The Banks. The rendering was unveiled by the UC board of trustees in February.(Photo: Provided/University of Cincinnati)

The University of Cincinnati on Wednesday scrapped plans to move its law school to the Downtown riverfront, deciding to keep it on the main campus.

In a split vote during a special meeting, UC's board of trustees turned back an effort by top business leaders to build a new law school at The Banks. Business leaders were allowed to be part of the board's 2½-hour private session to make a last-ditch presentation, but it wasn't enough to convince Chairman Rob Richardson Jr., faculty and student leaders who believe the law school should remain on the Uptown campus.

“The future of education and the future of law is about interdisciplinary cross-collaboration,” Richardson, a UC law school graduate, told The Enquirer. “The best way to do that is to be here on campus."

He said what makes the university attractive to many law students is being part of UC large campus, whose attractions The Banks can’t match. The decision came a day after the UC board discussed real estate during a private session. It then called the special Wednesday meeting, and sources told The Enquirer The Banks site was in serious doubt.

Nearly the entire meeting took place behind closed doors. Finally, the board emerged and approved spending $1 million to study design, location, concept and construction cost for a new on-campus law school.

The law school is housed in a nearly 100-year-old building at the corner of Calhoun Street and Clifton Avenue. University spokesman Greg Vehr said UC will explore different options on campus, including renovating the current building or constructing a new school on a campus site.

“The current condition of the law school is not good enough for our wonderful students,” law school Dean Jennifer Bard said before the decision was made. “My students and faculty want a new building that is designed as a law school for today and the next 50 to 100 years.”

Advantages to hosting the law school on campus include student access to campus facilities, affordable housing and dining options and free parking.

And law school faculty care about close collaborations, research and interdisciplinary work with other colleges, Bard said.

Richardson allowed at least a dozen non-board members to be in the room during Wednesday's executive session, including Bard, other faculty members, graduate and undergraduate student representatives.

Attorney Tom Gabelman, who represents Hamilton County on The Banks, and Melissa Wideman, a staffer for Reds owner Bob Castellini, were also among those allowed to be in the private session. Castellini has been a major driver on The Banks development, and he has pushed for UC to move its law school to a vacant parcel on the riverfront.

A deadline for a deal between UC, the city, Hamilton County and The Banks planners was set for this month. The university also needed to raise at least $25 million to fund the law school's move to The Banks, a goal officials said had been reached.

Gabelman made his team's pitch for the relocation. He gave a presentation on moving the law school to The Banks that touched on the operating costs and funding needed. The Enquirer requested a copy of the presentation, but he declined to share it.

"This is a once-in-a-century decision," Gabelman said. "It could be an opportunity lost for the present time, but it is a split decision that doesn’t reflect consensus within the board."

In February, the UC board approved exploring moving the law school to The Banks. Then-President Santa Ono began leading a small team of UC leaders to take a closer look at The Banks. They worked closely with Castellini and other top business leaders. But Ono left for another job last month, leaving UC without the project's leading advocate.

Ono said in February key donors had a greater interest in investing into a new building Downtown than in renovating the on-campus law school building.

"There is more enthusiasm and more want to donate to the Banks," Ono said. "There are heavyweight civic leaders who said they will help philanthropically."

State and local elected officials have supported moving the law school to The Banks, a big reason the state lawmakers gave the riverfront development $10 million in this year's budget. The plan was to use the money to prepare a site for future development, which could have been for the law school. University officials had their eyes set on "Lot 24," which is immediately south of the new GE office building across West Freedom Way.

The current College of Law building has roughly 41,000 square feet of space. The original building went up in the 1920s and was renovated in the 1960s and 1980s.

There's a statue of William Howard Taft, the president and chief justice of the United States, on the law school's grounds. Taft was a graduate of a law school that merged into UC's law school; he served as the dean of UC's law school during the merger, leaving in 1900 to become part of the Philippines Commission in a move that started his rise in national Republican politics.